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Best Practices for Building Your Portfolio

By April 24, 2017 at 7:00pm

Just like a museum that pulls from its archives to create exhibits on a theme, your creative portfolio should be a curated collection of your work, adapted for each client or job opening you pursue. The best agencies expect job seekers’ portfolios to be targeted to the skill set, industry knowledge and discipline required for the position or project they seek. If you want to land a coveted design gig, you'll need to fine-tune both your physical and online portfolios. Here are some portfolio tips to help you rise above the competition.

Create a portfolio even if you're not a designer

It's a no-brainer that every designer should have a killer portfolio. But copywriters, account executives and marketing managers can benefit from creating portfolios, too. In fact, because it's not as common for those who work outside the field of design to have a portfolio, creating a collection of your work can help you stand out from your competitors and demonstrate your initiative and organizational skills.

Think both digital and analog

A portfolio website may help you get your foot in the door with an agency, but it's helpful to be able to show off something physical when you want to call out specific examples of content you've created during a job interview. That’s why, whatever kind of creative role you hope to land, you need to maintain both online and physical versions of your portfolio.

Include the optimal number of pieces

How many content pieces do you need in your physical book? Advertising and marketing executives surveyed by The Creative Group said they prefer to see eight items, on average, in someone's design portfolio. In a digital portfolio, you can include more samples, as long as they're organized by category and easy to navigate.

Make sure all of the samples in your portfolio are free of smudges, folds, tears or extraneous markings. Show one only item at a time to avoid a chaotic, cluttered look. Use pocket pages for your resume, biography, and client list; carry bulky or odd-shaped items separately.

Perfect your pitch

Even a stellar professional portfolio won't win over a potential client if your verbal presentation turns into a 20-minute monologue. Select five pieces that best represent your skills and how they served a company's needs. For each one, develop a brief pitch that addresses the objective, your role and the results. Revenue, stats and percentages are instant indicators of how your work made a difference. The more you can quantify a project's outcome, the better.

Answering common portfolio questions

Here’s how to respond to questions that might trip you up during a portfolio review:

Q: What would you have done differently with this piece?

A: Never disparage a former employer or client. Instead, demonstrate tact and diplomacy. Discuss what you might have done with a bigger budget or more time, for instance.

Q: What do you think of our current marketing materials?

A: Don't harshly critique the work or give hollow praise. Show that you're observant by commenting on the strengths and weaknesses of each piece. Suggest how you would improve the collateral to better meet business needs.

Q: Which piece are you most proud of?

A: Keep in mind that employers may be more interested in why you're pleased with the sample than in the work itself, because your answer reveals the things that inspire or motivate you.

Q: What was your role in this piece?

A: Resist the temptation to exaggerate your contributions. If your role in a project was minimal, it should not be included in your book. If the piece was a group effort, explain how the team worked together and use the opportunity to highlight your communication and collaboration skills.

Make it a living document

Finally, keep updating your portfolio with your best work so the samples are fresh when a career opportunity arises. It's far easier to archive and summarize your work when you've just completed it than to revisit it months later when you’ve forgotten many of the details. Regular maintenance also makes it easier to swap pieces in and out of your physical portfolio as you customize it for a potential employer.

The bottom line: There's no one-size-fits-all portfolio solution. To land a job, you'll need to tailor your portfolio so it presents work that's most relevant to the position.